A Guide to Low-Cost PCB Tools

Many PCB tools are now available to the home user. Each tool has a different set of strengths and weaknesses.

As time has progressed, technology has become more accessible. PCB design tools used to be priced so high that only companies could afford them. Today many PCB tools are available to the home user. Each tool has a different set of strengths and weaknesses, though there are some really standout tools that are either free, open-source, or relatively low-cost. Many of the freeware programs are a subset of a commercial code.

Some may be skeptical about the usability and productivity of freeware, open-source, or low-cost programs. With regard to PCB tools, I have established a list of criteria that I find essential. Please note that freeware programs are often more polished than some open-source programs but will have limitations, such as number of components or pins allowed. Here is the minimum standard that I have set for PCB tools for my home use.

Windows compatible: This is a must for me. Everyone has an opinion on this, but I find that I spend less time debugging programs in Windows than I do in any other operating system.

Native schematic tool: Some programs require an external schematic editor. Even simple designs tend to change as you work through them. Some of the changes are as simple as changing an input pin on the microcontroller, but may also include adding circuitry to increase functionality. If the schematic editor is not tied to the rest of the software package, it is very easy for changes not to propagate into the final design.

Footprint wizard: This is something that makes life much easier. PCB products without a footprint wizard have a tedious workflow. They direct you to find a product from the library that is somewhat similar and modify it. The problem with this workflow is that many new sensors are coming out with nonstandard footprints. Hacking something to fit your needs is tedious. It is much easier to start from scratch. With a good footprint wizard, you should be able to have a new part created in less than five minutes.

Multilayer design capability: A two-layer board greatly simplifies routing, and most PCB prototyping houses offer this as their base option.

3D preview: Perhaps this is because of my mechanical background, but I find that this capability is underrated by many. With 3D preview, it is very easy to verify that all your parts will fit, and that you will have sufficient access to solder the parts. In my last project, I was able to use 3D preview to identify a problem very quickly with my connector spacing and correct it. This will serve as your final design check before manufacturing.

Autorouter: Though many purists will argue that an autorouter is not desirable, I disagree. An autorouter helps find the best placement for components and can be used in an iterative method. I usually hand route any critical traces and then autoroute the remaining traces, followed by a final cleanup performed by hand. With care, an autorouter can be used to great advantage and can dramatically reduce the time spent in your design.

The following tools have a freeware version and meet the requirements outlined above.

In my efforts to find the best low-cost PCB tool available, I have started with DipTrace.

PCB layout for an automatic leveler performed using DipTrace.

It is my goal to learn several of these tools. As I do so, I will be documenting my experiences. I will pass along any insights I learn, as well as the strengths and weaknesses of each program. If I have missed your favorite PCB tool in the lists above, please let me know. Help me understand why you think it should be on the list. Also, if you have a specific question about one of these tools, let me know, and I will see if I can answer it.

We basically agree DS Mech looks good for modeling PCBs. My point is that, for example, it wouldn't be a suitable replacement for SolidWorks at my company (the lack of import & export options alone is enough to eliminate it -- we have to deal with models from various sources, create drawings, etc).

VHB, Thanks for sharing. One thing that concerns me is I am not personally a big fan of having to move things from one package to another. This is a personal preference, but it is based upon me coming from the manufacturing world. It can get very dangerous if data is not connected together. A change can be made, but then not propagate through to the end design. This then makes it hard to trouble shoot a problem. This may not be a concern for others as they may be more organized than I am ;)

I had looked at that one when making this list. It does look like it could end up maturing into something very nice, but it did not quite have all the features that I was looking for. I do appreciate mentioning it. I do like to keep track of these groups. There is another group that I am following as well, hoping that they can get some of these things together into a nice poilshed package.

Most of the PCB packages do not have built in modeling, though one does that I mentioned above. Many of these still do not understand that STEP is the industry standard.

That aside, I mainly do 3D mechanical package design in a cad tool and then attach it to the part library. DesignSpark Mechanical is not as weak as you indicate. In the base package compared to the base packages for SolidWorks and SolidEdge, I would say that it is pretty close to comparable. The biggest thing, and I needed to get some understanding of this, is that the work flow is different in DesignSpark Mechanical. Once I got to learning the new work flow, I have found it to be rather great to use. If you are speaking of lofting and surfacing, the yes, both of the packages that you listed are better than DesignSpark Mechanical. Thankfully, though, most of the people needing to use a low cost MCAD package for designing electronics components should find that DS Mechanical will do what they need.

as a schematic entry package. It is an elegantly simple schematic entry program that makes it easy to create a library of your own symbols. It has a nice design-rule checker for schematics. I like the fact that you can use color in your symbols to create visually meaningful circuit designs. You can also add metadata (e.g. Distributor, Manuacturer, Circuit Parameters, etc.) to each symbol or symbol instance and create both BOMs and Net Lists with this information. I export the PCB net list into FreePCB to do the actuall layout. I've found that it is also fairly easy to create part footprints in FreePCB. The user interface in FreePCB is attractive to me becuase it seems to have been designed to make creating manual layouts easy. A small number of aptly named keystrokes makes it easy change layers, run traces, wire and unwire segments, etc. My collegues and I have created about 30 PCBs over the past couple of years using these tools and we've been very pleased with the results.

@TonyTib I agree... one other tool that is more CAD-friendly is Rittal / ePlan's harness & connector design tool, ePlan3D. One nice thing about this tool is that it lets you calculate the equivalent length of straightened cables (nail board model) before you can shape it in 3D. It supports all major CAD tool formats.

Yup, that's fine for chips and such (which are pretty simple mechanically), but pretty useless for connectors (which I use a lot). Here's a model of a break out board I designed in Eagle PCB, and then did the 3D model in Alibre Design (now Geomagic Design Elements).

How easy is it to create an equivalent model in PCB software only?

BTW, I haven't got played with it yet, but my quick impression of RS Design Mech is that it should be pretty good for PCB modelling, but not competition for traditional MCAD (e.g. Solid Edge, Solid Works)